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and Pacific Railway and the diversion of traffic from the North and
South to the East and West routes; sentiment to-day plays a consid-
erable part in the refusal of Canada to enter into closer trade re-
lations with the United States at the expense of risking closer
trade relations with the United Kingdom. Had we 10 years ago put
a 2/-duty upon foreign-grown wheat allowing Empire-grown wheat free
into this country, undoubtedly we would have seen a much more rapid
development of the wheat-growing lands and their necessary adjuncts -
the railway and water-way systems of Canada. The son of the Amer-
ican farmer and of the Canadian farmer as well as the settler from
the outside would have thronged in greater numbers to that country
which had the best terms in one of the best wheat markets in the
world - the United Kingdom. Development at that rapid rate has
not yet taken place, hence the steady increase in wheat prices.
Investors would have invested their money in East and West lines of
communication and farms linked thereto. We made no move. Invest-
ors foreseeing the possibility of the States when they had eaten up
their own wheat lands being forced to break down their barriers
against Canadian wheat, withered as to how railway policy should be
directed and railway lines constructed. To-day it is almost too
late; the temptation to develop lines running down into the States
becomes greater. The Canadians still prefer and the Directors of
their transport corporations still prefer reciprocal trade with the
United Kingdom, and on the new lines that are being opened up both
of rail and steamship to and from the Northern coasts of Canada, ow-
ing to the cheaper ocean freights there is still enough incentive